LAFAYETTE, La. – The Coastal Carolina softball team fell 7-5 in a tight battle to the No. 21/23 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns in Lafayette, La., on Friday evening.
With the loss, the Chants fall to 18-12, 1-3 Sun Belt and Louisiana improves to 19-13, 4-0 Sun Belt.
The Chants opened the top of the first inning with a perfect start when Delaney Keith belted a two-run rocket over the left-center field wall and Maddy Jennings followed this with a solo homer of her own to put Coastal up 3-0.
The Ragin' Cajuns answered right back in the bottom of the first inning, cracking two RBI doubles to narrow the gap to 3-2.
Keith continued to fire in the top of the third inning when she smashed her second home run in her second at-bat to push the Chants ahead 4-2.
Louisiana rallied in the bottom of the fourth inning as Alexa Langeliers crushed a leadoff home run over the centerfield wall and Cecilia Vasquez hit a two-run homer to give the Ragin' Cajuns the lead, 5-4.
CCU continued to battle in the top of the fifth inning when freshman Clara Hudgens kicked off the inning with a leadoff single and advanced to second on a ground out. Riley Zana then stepped into the batter's box and knocked in her 19th RBI of the year to centerfield to level the score at 5-5.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Ragin' Cajuns hit three straight singles to load the bases. Mihyia Davis then stepped up to the plate and slotted a two-run single up the middle to make the score 7-5.
The Chants kept fighting in the top of the seventh inning after a walk and a Keith single put the go-ahead run at the plate, but the Ragin' Cajuns held strong to take the 7-5 win.
Raelee Brabham fell to 12-6 on the year giving up three runs and five hits in her 3.0 innings of work.
The Chanticleers and the Ragin' Cajuns will be back tomorrow for the second game of the series at 5 p.m. ET.
For complete coverage of CCU softball, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalSoftball (Twitter), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
